Category Archives: Green Initiatives / Environment

Chandrababu Naidu appreciates GANAM for its plans to rebuild Tenneti Park

Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Nature, Nri's / Pio's
AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu
AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu

Visakhapatnam:

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu appreciated the efforts of Gitam Alumni Association of North America (GANAM) on Monday for its initiation to rebuild Tenneti Park located near Kilasagiri.

The CM expressed satisfaction on this new initiative to convert the park into a major tourist attraction.

The CM said that he was confident that the Gitam University and its Alumni network would implement the project successfully as they planned.

GANAM initially donated Rs 60 lakh to the project.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC  / November 18th, 2014

A special day for milk and cheese!

Business & Economy, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Science & Technology
Dairy technology students display milk-based food products during the ‘Dairy Festival’ at Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University in Tirupati on Friday. — Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar / The Hindu
Dairy technology students display milk-based food products during the ‘Dairy Festival’ at Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University in Tirupati on Friday. — Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar / The Hindu

SV Veterinary University students put on display a wide array of milk products during ‘Dairy Festival’

The ‘Dairy Festival’ held on the Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University campus here on Friday turned out to be a day of milk and cheese, ghee, curd and whey.

Inaugurating the event, Vice-Chancellor Manmohan Singh pegged the growth rate of the dairy sector at 10 per cent and foresaw a rise in career opportunities in the industry for qualified people. The array of dairy products on display contained samples of cow milk, goat milk, skimmed milk, toned milk and standardised milk.

The event also offered an opportunity to students of Dairy Technology to showcase their talent.

They prepared and put on display milk-based products such as doodh peda, rasmalai, raitha, shrikhand, basundi, jamun, rabri, dharwad peda, lassi, kalakhand, kundha, milk cake and channa jelly. They also explained the benefits of each product.

The chaddar cheese, made after fermentation for six months and kept at a moisture level of 47 to 55 per cent, drew the attention of many.

Similarly, the students also proved that whey, the residual liquid separated from the coagulated solid, could be used to prepare cool drinks and soups. As part of the ‘Earn While You Learn’ programme, the students put the products on sale.

“The products are of high quality and affordable. We make close to 50 per cent profit, which helps us meet our daily expenses,” a fourth year student said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by A.D.Rangarajan / Tirupati – November 15th, 2014

Expert suggests plantation of local species

Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature
Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) 13-11-2014: Environmental activist and Magsaysay award winner Chandi Prasad Bhat addressing a press confernce along with Bhagavatula Charitable Trust secretary B. Sri Ram Murthy n Visakhapatnam on Thursday. Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam / The Hindu
Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) 13-11-2014: Environmental activist and Magsaysay award winner Chandi Prasad Bhat addressing a press confernce along with Bhagavatula Charitable Trust secretary B. Sri Ram Murthy n Visakhapatnam on Thursday. Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam / The Hindu

Environmental activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt visits Hudhud-affected areas. BCT secretary B. Sri Ram Murthy said instead of giving importance to numbers, the trees that withstand the gale like neem, jamun and ‘neredu’ should be given priority while restoring greenery.

Floods in the Himalayan region and recent cyclones in the coastal regions underline their vulnerability caused by climate change, noted environmental activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt has said.

Addressing a press conference after a visit to the Hudhud-affected fishermen villages, GITAM University, zoo, Kambalakonda and the Agency areas, he said while varieties like acacia and eucalyptus were felled by the gale, the tops or branches of local varieties were blown off but the trees survived.

He said during visits to Odisha after the super cyclone and to the Andamans, he found that mangroves withstand the gale without being uprooted and said growing local species along the coast would lessen the impact of the cyclone and reduce damage.

Mr. Bhatt, recipient of Magsaysay Award and Gandhi Peace Prize, said the floods at Kedarnath, the recent J&K flood and Hudhud had highlighted the affect of climate change caused by melting of glaciers and raising sea levels.

The Chipko Movement leader, who visited the State after the 1977 Diviseema tidal wave and after cyclones in 1987 and 1990, said trees survived in the Agency area owing to social forestry programmes through Vana Samrakshana Samitis wherever the growth was thick. Mr. Bhatt, who was here on an invitation from Bhagavatula Charitable Trust (BCT), saw the havoc wrought to the trees and interacted with students of the residential school there.

BCT secretary B. Sri Ram Murthy said instead of giving importance to numbers, the trees that withstand the gale like neem, jamun and ‘neredu’ should be given priority while restoring greenery. Hills should be vegetated again. Also casuarinas should be planted along the coast in various phases so that after cutting off the grown trees other layers would remain in place.

He said two BCT farms had 180 species of trees and 80 per cent of them were uprooted by the cyclone. Various sheds for students, cafeteria, dormitories etc were also damaged.

Workshop soon

Making good use of Mr. Bhatt’s association with the Ministry of Environment, BCT would organise a workshop on the species of trees to be grown.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – November 13th, 2014

CIBA’s experiment on mullet proves a success

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All

MulletANDHRA13nov2014

The cultivation period of the fish, which is considered an alternative variety to shrimp, was brought down from one year to barely seven months

The Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA), Chennai, in collaboration with Nagayalanka-based progressive farmer has scripted a success story by bringing down the cultivation period of Gold Mullet (Liza Parsia) and Grey Mullet (Mugil Cephalus) fish with the help of ‘formulated feed’.

The feed was developed by the CIBA and tested for the first time in Nagayalanka in Andhra Pradesh in the country. The cultivation period of the fish, which is considered an alternative variety to shrimp, was brought down from one year to barely seven months, drawing the attention of the worried shrimp farmers.

On Wednesday, CIBA Principal Scientists K. Ambasankar and J. Syama Dayal came with up their findings following harvesting of the mullet species on an acre of pond here.

The seed grown in the pond was collected from estuary and brackish water canals.

“Findings of our research on cultivation of the spices indicate disease free and high rate of survival of the seed, apart from very low input cost,” Mr. Syama Dayal told The Hindu. However, the CIBA scientists experimented on these two species in their quest to come out with alternative to the shrimp, which was driving the farmer into irreparable loss in recent years.

Experiment

“The experiment on Liza Parsia and Mugil Cephalus in abandoned ponds where earlier shrimp was cultivated is a way for those failed to reap profits in shrimp cultivation. Farmers have already begun slowly inquiring about details such as input cost,” said Mr. Ambasankar.

Beyond expectations

According to Raghu Sekhar who cultivated the fish in his pond, growth of the mullet species was beyond expectations, wooing other farmers to try their luck. “No disease is found during the seven-month cultivation period, withstanding changes in the weather and the soil of the pond,” added Mr. Sekhar.

Given the market value for value added to the Mullet Roe (egg) of the species, European countries and Japan are importing it in a large scale.

On the other hand, the CIBA was engaged in developing seed of the mullet species by the end 2016, according to scientists.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by T. Appala Naidu / Nagayalanka – November 13th, 2014

Best App in Asia award to Hyderabad entrepreneur

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature
The Best App In Asia category of the digital winners 2014, Raghu Kanchustambham, explains about his application in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Photo: G. Ramakrishna / The Hindu
The Best App In Asia category of the digital winners 2014, Raghu Kanchustambham, explains about his application in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Photo: G. Ramakrishna / The Hindu

The app helps coffee growers to get instant returns for their produce. Livelihood 360 is also capable of estimating quantity of the produce in the fields and sell the crop at fair price.

The coffee farmers of Araku valley these days get instant returns for their produce. Gone are the days when they had to wait for nearly a month till the buyers completed the weighing process of the produce and release money through co-operative society. Thanks to a mobile application developed by Hyderabad-based entrepreneur, Raghu Kanchustambham, there is no waiting period.

The app dubbed as ‘Livelihood 360 (L360)’ was adjudged the Best App of Asia in the Telenor Digital Winners Conference, a global competition held in Oslo, Norway this month. The award came with a cash prize of Rs. 9,79,000, which will be utilised by the developer to further “scale up” the concept.

It all started when Mr. Raghu, who has a start-up ‘Concept Wave’, met the officials of Naandi Foundation, which was already working with the coffee farmers of Araku valley. “The basic premise was to utilise technology and reach to those people not having access to technology and internet. I visited Araku valley and spent time with them and learnt a lot about their lifestyle and livelihood,” he said.

Mr. Raghu said the previous system of remittance to coffee growers in Araku was taking about a month. The coffee growers would take their produce to a prescribed ‘adda’ where the truck drivers would collect and transport coffee beans to another location for weighing and valuing. “We gave the truck drivers an application that would quantify the yield and also determine the quality instantly. The drivers will immediately remit the amount on the spot to farmers,” he explained.

Livelihood 360 is also capable of estimating quantity of the produce in the fields and sell the crop at fair price. “We have already adopted this application among 12,000 coffee farmers in 650 villages of Araku. Between 40 and 50 truck drivers from Araku were given training on using the application on a feature phone and not a smart phone,” he explained.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by M. Sai Gopal / Hyderabad – November 12th, 2014

NRCB shows the way for banana farmers

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Science & Technology
Farmers at the Banana market. / The Hindu
Farmers at the Banana market. / The Hindu

The National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB), Trichy, one of the India’s premiere research institutes in the field of agriculture, has trained farmers belonging to Krishna district in pre and post harvesting technologies in banana cultivation and processing.

A group of twenty farmers actively involved in banana cultivation in Thotlavalluru mandal was groomed in value added products of banana by the scientists last week. Inspired by a strong local banana marketing system owned and being run by the Krishna district farmers, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has ensured them the ‘scientific training cum exposure visit’ under it’s Capacity Building for Adoption of Technology Programme.

NRCB Principal Scientist Dr. Kumar had shared his scientific experience with the farmers, enabling them exposure to existing technologies meant for seed selection and post harvesting methods. “Scientists mainly focused on soil management, crop maintenance and identification of disease. They also advised the farmers to prefer drip irrigation system with fatigation tanks,” said Netham (NGO) Director Suresh Vesam who led the farmers.

BananaChartANDHRA12nov2014

On the other hand, another scientist Dr. Siva had displayed preparation methods of value added products developed from banana – banana fibre, drink, chips, wine and jam. The farmers were told the export potential of the selected value added products. The training included visit to various banana units in Trichy district of Tamil Nadu.

The success story of Solar Dryad Banana Unit in Trichy, a pilot project encouraged by a German Bank — KFW, helped the Krishna farmers to explore areas in banana cultivation and marketing to register growth in their income. The farmers also learnt how Tamil Nadu farmers tapped the overseas market for banana and its value added products, which is being exported to Philippines and other European countries.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by T. Appala Naidu / Machilipatnam – November 10th, 2014

Green Toilets Introduced in Some Trains

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Records, All, Science & Technology

Visakhapatnam :

The eco-friendly bio-toilets, jointly developed by the Railways and DRDO, have been introduced on Visakhapatnam-Shiridi-Visakhapatnam and Visakhapatnam-Chennai-Visakhapatnam weekly express trains. The bio-toilets were fitted on the trains on Thursday and the trains titled Green Trains.

The specially designed toilets use anaerobic bacteria culture which converts the collected waste into biodegradable matter as gases like methane, carbon dioxide and water which were then discharged in specified discharge pits ensuring clean and hygienic environment.

According to divisional railway manager Anil Kumar, rail users have to be aware of utilisation of the bio-toilets as they are unlike the normal ones. Passengers should not dump things like plastic, empty bottles, paper and other garbage into the pans as otherwise they get choked and become unfit for use, the DRM said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service / November 07th, 2014

Umar Alisha Rural Development Trust to plant 10 lakh trees

Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Nature

The Umar Alisha Rural Development Trust plans to plant 10 lakh trees in cyclone hit Visakhapatnam district to bring back the district’s greenery.

Addressing reporters after launching the project after planting a tree at their Viswa Vignana Spiritual Centre at Bheemjuniatnam in the district here today, Chairman of the Trust Umar Alisha said the trust would plant 10 lakh trees in the district within five years. He said 70 to 80 per cent of trees in Visakhapatnam have been destroyed due to cyclone.

‘Make Vizag Green’ is a project taken up by the Umar Alisha Rural Development Trust to replant lost greenery in Visakhapatnam.

He said it is everybody’s responsibility to protect the environment and plant trees which provide oxygen.

“Every tree will provide oxygen, which is very important for human beings,” he said.

Umar Alisha said that the trust would select trees which could withstand even wind speeds of 200 kilometres per hour during natural calamities like cyclones.

The project plans to use information technology, crowdsourcing, geocoding and social media to encourage people to participate.

He said the trust would plant 200 trees in various places in Bheemunipatnam today and also plant 1,100 trees in various places as well as both sides of the national highway.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> News / Press Trust of India / Visakhapatnam – November 02nd, 2014

Acme Group wins bid for 160 MW solar projects in AP

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Science & Technology

Projects will require estimated investment of Rs.1,250 crore

Acme Cleantech Solutions will sign a 25-year power purchasing agreement with Southern Power Distribution Co. Ltd in Andhra Pradesh. Photo: AFP
Acme Cleantech Solutions will sign a 25-year power purchasing agreement with Southern Power Distribution Co. Ltd in Andhra Pradesh. Photo: AFP

Hyderabad:

Acme Cleantech Solutions Ltd. on Monday said it has won a bid to develop 160 megawatt (MW) of solar power projects in Andhra Pradesh.

The projects will be set up in the Anantapur, Kurnool and Chittoor districts in Andhra Pradesh and will require an estimated investment of Rs.1,250 crore, the company said in a statement.

“This win is the country’s largest win by any private solar developer,” Manoj Kumar Upadhyay, founder and chairman of Acme Group said in the statement. “With this addition, our solar power portfolio has reached 422.5 MW and we are on way to generate 1000 MW by year 2017,” Upadhyay added.

The company will sign a 25-year power purchasing agreement with Southern Power Distribution Co. Ltd in Andhra Pradesh.

A total of 51 bidders participated in the tender process.

Bifurcated Andhra Pradesh is one of the three states chosen by the union government for the power for all scheme that will ensure 24X7 power supply. The N. Chandrababu Naidu government is keen on harnessing solar energy for electricity generation.

Public sector National Thermal Power Corp. (NTPC) recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government to develop a 1,000 MW solar park on a build-own-operate basis with an investment of Rs.7,000 crore. The Union government also agreed to grant Rs.500 crore to Andhra Pradesh to develop 2,500 MW of solar energy, PTI reported on 24 October.

Acme Group has solar power projects in the states of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

source: http://www.livemint.com / Live Mint / Home> Industry / by Yogendra Kalavalapalli / Tuesday – October 28th, 2014

Trimex Sands Ltd. to build cyclone shelters

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Science & Technology
Trimex Sands Private Limited Managing Director Koneru Prasad handing over a demand draft for Rs. 50 lakh to Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu during latter's visit to Srikakuam, towards relief operations in cyclone-hit areas.PHOTO: By Arrangement
Trimex Sands Private Limited Managing Director Koneru Prasad handing over a demand draft for Rs. 50 lakh to Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu during latter’s visit to Srikakuam, towards relief operations in cyclone-hit areas.PHOTO: By Arrangement

Cyclone shelters have been planned in Gara and Srikakulam mandals with a fund of Rs. 3 crore

Trimex Sands Private Limited (TSPL), which is worrying with the suspension of its operations due to protests by the local residents, is trying to win hearts of both locals and the administration with a series of CSR activities. It came forward to construct cyclone relief shelters in Gara and Srikakulam mandals with an involvement of an expenditure of Rs.3 crore.

TSPL Managing Director Koneru Pradeep has already shown the designs for the cyclone shelters to Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu during the latter’s visit to Srikakulam and handed over Rs.50 lakh for carrying out immediate relief operations in the cyclone-hit areas of the district.

He also promised the Chief Minister that the company would supply safe drinking water by constructing reverse osmosis plants under the NTR Sujaladhara programme.

“We will cover 30 villages under this programme. The company has already constructed an English medium school with a fund of Rs. 2.5 crore. We have planned to improve health and education in fishermen villages,” said Mr. Pradeep.

Labour Minister Kinjarapu Atchannaidu, Srikakulam MP Kinjarapu Rammohan hailed the move by the company. They suggested other companies to follow the suit since more funds were needed to improve civic infrastructure in the coastal villages.

Meanwhile, Srikakulam District Industrial Centre has planned to organise another meeting with various industries in Srikakulam for taking up CSR activities in a big way. DIC General Manager B.Gopala Krishna said that the companies, with their constant efforts and social service activities, should instil confidence among the local villagers.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Srikakulam – October 25th, 2014